The Buddha and the Abhidhamma

[frankk]

responding to Venerable

@A.Bhikkhu

in regard to my previous comment here:
I didn’t like what I was seeing among my fellow practitioners and teachers who were practicing and believers of abhidhamma, i.e. how Abhidhamma affected their practice and conduct.

What I’m specifically referring to is the blind belief that:

1. the Jataka Tales, Theravada Abhidhamma, are the word of the Buddha,
2. are 100% true, and
3. that the Jataka Tales, Abhidhamma, and other questionable parts of the Sutta pitaka do not contradict the EBT portion of the suttas at all.

This is especially so among the followers, but as far as I can tell even the teachers, masters, who the devotees consider Ariya, all the way to the top of the hierarchy. Although I’m generally fearless when it comes to directly asking questions I consider of great importance to all the teachers, in this case I found it too awkward to directly ask them, “Do you really hold those 3 positions as true?” Because I knew there are only 4 possible answers and the first 3 are really bad.

The possible outcomes:

1. They lack discernment, basic reasoning skills, and logic to see that Abhdhamma contradicts EBT on important doctrinal points.
2. They know the contradictions are there, they know the jataka tales are fiction, but they see that fiction and lies serve a useful practical purpose in keeping the theravada orthodox tradition alive, so they publicly claim everything is true and 100% word of the Buddha, while privately they know the truth but believe they are doing this for the greater good.
3. They know the contradictions are there, but they want to preserve harmony in the Sangha and they’re quite afraid of the kamma of causing a schism so they mostly stay quiet on the matter and don’t voice their doubts to the teachers or others.
4. They’re unsure, so won’t really state a clear position on the 3 points, but have faith in their teachers and hope they will understand over time.

I don’t have psychic powers, but I would guess most of the teachers are in category 1. Probably some of the teachers privately have some doubts about some issues, but not enough doubt to shake their dogmatic devotion to the overall orthodox party line that everything in the Te Tipitaka is the genuine 100% word of the Buddha.

If I remember correctly from reading his autobiography, Bhante Gunaratana had a photographic memory as a kid. Ordained as a samanera at age 12, took full ordination at 20, very well versed in Abhidhamma and entire Tipitaka. You can be sure someone from Sri Lanka, immersed and ordained in orthodox theravada tradition, with a photographic memory and sharp intellect has an interesting and worthwhile perspective on this issue.

In this thread, I posted some excerpts showing how his interpretation of jhana changed over 30 years, from an orthodox position to one that is completely consistent to the EBT

Evolution of Bhante Gunaratana's Interpretation of Jhāna

Evolution of Bhante Gunaratana's Interpretation of Jhāna . . This article surveys the changes that occur in Bhante Gunaratana's understanding of jhāna, regarding the key controversial points between the Theravada orthodoxy, and a straightforward Ockham's Razor reading of the EBT. The first book, written in 1980, is strictly in conformance with Vism. Not surprising, since Bhante G. is an ordained Theravadan. But roughly 30 years later, in "Beyond Mindfulness in Plain Eng…

Bhante Sujato also wrote a book surveying some of the problematic areas of Abhidhamma, which I read a few years ago, maybe the same as this post in his blog Here:
http://santifm.org/santipada/2010/the-mystique-of-the-abhidhamma/

I’m all for a diverse Buddhist ecosystem to suit personalities and dispositions of all types, so long as it’s stated clearly that it’s a commentary, or not the direct word of the Buddha. The Abhdhamma that evolved in the Mahayana is quite a different Abhidhamma than Te, and is also classified officially as commentary, not word of the Buddha.

I believe in the early days of Te Abhidhamma, they were honest and ethical on keeping things separate. The fact that it has its own pitaka for example. But somewhere along the line they crossed the line, and never looked back.